Union holding a no-confidence vote on Sheriff Scott Israel

John SextonPosted at 6:01 pm on April 20, 2018

When last we checked in on Sheriff Scott Israel, he was avoiding the media and attending Democratic fundraisers. Even then, local news reporter Bob Norman was told by the Broward deputy and union chief Jeff Bell “We have not ruled out the possibility of a no-confidence vote.” Today, Brian Entin, another local reporter says the no-confidence vote is happening with the result expected next week:

This is the first time this has ever happened in Broward County history. Results are expected by next Thursday. I'm told deputies were contemplating this vote since the Parkland tragedy.

We still don't know the findings of a FL Dept. of Law Enforcement investigation into Sheriff's response to the Parkland massacre – or how @FLGovScott will react. I'm told union reps wanted this vote now, so their views on Sheriff Israel are known before politics come into play.

That last tweet is a reference to an investigation which Governor Rick Scott ordered back in February. From the Tampa Bay Times:

The Broward County Sheriff’s Office announced Saturday it would launch an internal investigation into the office’s response to the shooting.

That wasn’t enough for Gov. Scott, who confirmed that FDLE “will immediately begin” looking into the response of law enforcement.

“There must be an independent investigation and that is why I asked the FDLE Commissioner to immediately start this process,” Scott said in a statement.

The call for an investigation came after House Speaker Richard Corcoran, along with 73 of his Republican House colleagues, called on Scott to suspend Sheriff Israel.

There has already been speculation that the conclusion of that report, if unfavorable to Sheriff Israel, would lead to his removal from office by Gov. Scott. However, according to reporter Bob Norman, there is already word that Sheriff Israel plans to run for office again in 2020 even if he is removed from office this year by the Governor.

I suspect the vote of no-confidence is going to go against Sheriff Israel simply because the union likely wouldn’t have called for it unless they were fairly certain it would pass. But nothing will happen to him until the FDLE report is published. Then Governor Scott could choose to include the vote as another factor in his decision. That report was rumored to be coming this month, so we might not have to wait much longer to find out what happens to Sheriff Israel.